the Way of Mutual Understanding
by eunjus2
Summary: Sanada and Marui  the strangest thing that happened since the invention of the pocky! But relationships are really just about how to understand one another and how deal with each other. This is their story!
1. Prologue the party

**Hi!**

**It's me again! Thanks so much for the reviews and sorry for not updating – I've been busy! But I'm working on another chapter for **_**Poor little kouhai**_

**But please try to enjoy this while you're waiting for it!**

**Reviews are much appreciated )**

**LAST WINTER**

**--..--**

**--..--**

A lot of young people laughing, drinking alcohol and dancing to very loud (and very bad) music playing non-stop. And, of course, a lot of 'socializing' was going on too. All too often it was behind closed doors too.

Parties weren't really Sanada's thing, not even parties for teenagers. He shouldn't even have been there in the first place, but Yanagi decided to bring Sanada along. In his hunt for the regulars, that was.

If Marui and Niou thought they could do what they wanted on their time out of school they were more stupid than Sanada had thought from the start. Tennis was a team sport and team sports were all about responsibility towards the team.

Responsible members of the tennis team weren't supposed to go to a house party the day before a match. And Sanada was going to teach them what happened to the unlucky ones who they did.

But right now he was too busy to evade dancing, all too drunk teenagers in some unknown guy's house. The poor guy's parents were obviously not home and the poor lad himself was nowhere to be seen.

Someone almost forced a glass into his hand and he absently sipped on it before putting it away. Then he climbed the stairs leading to the second floor.

--

--

Marui was way too drunk, which was a relatively new experience for him. The whole room seemed to be moving to the music and it wasn't just because people were dancing in the room, which by the look of it was an empty bedroom.

There were some girls too – actually _a lot_ of the people in the room were girls…!

Marui fell onto the bed, hoping the feeling of the floor moving by itself would go away if he did. A girl of some sorts was sitting next to him, and she smiled drunkenly at him. Trying to make a conversation over the noise was almost impossible; he'd already given up trying hours ago.

The girl leaned forward towards him, and her scent was that of sweet perfume and lip gloss mixed with alcohol. At first Marui thought she was trying to start up a conversation of some sorts, and he opened his mouth to tell her he couldn't hear what she was saying.

But instead, she put her hand at his neck and pulled him closer. And in his drunken condition, Marui's heart almost skipped a beat. _This is it! My first kiss…!_

The door suddenly flew open with a loud bang, followed by a thundering voice shouting: "Marui Bunta DON'T YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY IN YOUR HEAD?!!"

The music stopped. People were screaming, at first thinking it was someone's dad and that they had been busted. As soon as they realized the person standing in the door opening wasn't an adult, they sighed, relieved. But they still left the room, since both the music and the mood was way gone. And the girl got up from the bed and left, too.

"Aw, fukubuchou… what'd you do that for?!" Marui slurred. "I was just about to-"

"Don't you have anything useful inside that head of yours?!" Sanada continued, looking furious. He stopped, taking a deep breath. The room seemed to be spinning, was the air in the room bad?

"Hey, you're not my mum!" Marui said, as the other boy closed in. "What d'you think you're doin'?!" Marui protested as Sanada lifted him up."Let me down! I'm no frickin' girl!!"

"We're leaving" Sanada grunted. "As soon as Yanagi finds Niou, we're out of here!"

Oh shit… the room didn't stop spinning at all and instead it got worse by the second. Sanada swallowed hard… how could this be, why-

_The drink…!_ Was his last thought before everything went black.

--

--

"What the-?! Sanada_wake up! _Or fucking let go!" Marui shouted. His fukubuchou had fallen backwards onto the bed, still holding Marui who was now sitting in Sanada's lap. "Hellooooo?! Yanagi! Niou! _Somebody!!_ Oh shit this is _so_ _embarrassing_…"

"I should've brought my camera" Niou snickered, where he stood in the door opening with Yanagi. Marui stuck out his tongue.

"I take it Genichirou is out cold?" the data master guessed. "Just what did you put in his drink, Niou?"

"Just… something I invented."

"Great…" Marui muttered, crossing his arm. "Then this's your fault and I'll be crashing at your place tonight! That's the punishment for messing with my genius!"

"Actually, I was messing with fukubuchou" Niou drawled, scratching the back of his head.

"That's actually a good idea" Yanagi said, nodding. "I'd like to have the three of you at the same place so I don't have to look all over Kanagawa for you tomorrow morning."

"… tomorrow morning?" Niou said, looking puzzled.

"What d'you mean, 'the three of us'?!" Marui protested. "I don't wanna share the couch with fukubuchou!"

"You two'll be sleeping on the floor" Niou informed him, grabbing Marui's hand and pulling him to his feet.

Yanagi and Niou half dragged Sanada and half carried him down the street towards Niou's house, with Marui following. Not that the bubblegum blowing boy had much of a choice, since Yanagi held his arm in a tight grip.

At Niou's house, Yanagi and Niou had to carry Sanada up the stairs. Two spare futons were pulled out and put on the floor in Niou's room. And soon both Marui and Sanada were asleep, more or less.

"What'd you put in that drink Niou?" Yanagi said in a hushed voice, as he was about to leave.

"Wouldn't you wanna know" Niou snickered.

"So it's not something dangerous then?"

"Nah, it was just GHB so it's not dangerous. It's not even illegal, you know. My mum uses it when she's got trouble sleeping."

"… I hope you're joking?" Yanagi said, opening his eyes partly. "You mean you drugged Genichirou with-"

"It wasn't a big dose! And it's not like I was planning to rape him or something" Niou protested. Yanagi almost looked as if he wanted to slap something, or _someone_. Instead, he took a deep breath.

"He might suffer from memory loss when he wakes up" Yanagi warned. "Please call me if he vomits or if he gets trouble breathing."

"I was hoping that he'd get a memory loss" Niou grinned, as he opened the front door and held it up. "Have a safe trip home and don't forget to come pick us up tomorrow."

"What am I, your mother? I'll see you tomorrow at the courts."


	2. Prologue  the day after

**THE DAY AFTER**

--

A thin sunbeam had managed to squeeze in between the heavy curtains and the room was lit up a little, though not uncomfortably so. The shapes of three persons were visible in the room.

Marui groaned a little, trying his best not to move. His head felt like it was gonna fall off any second and he really didn't want to know what time it was.

… wait a sec. When'd his voice become _that_ deep?! Or making those sounds? And…

He tried to shout at Niou for something (since everything bad happening in Marui's life probably was Niou's fault anyway) but found that he simply couldn't. Because something wet was covering his mouth – and it was _moving_! Over his mouth and-

Marui froze completely when he felt a hand wander _up the inside of his tigh__**tOMIGOD!!!**_ Suddenly he was fully awake; eyes shot open only to find _Sanada_ on top of him – the fukubuchou's eyes were closed. And he was_ KISSING him!!??_

"YOU BASTARD!" Marui screamed, and punched Sanada as hard as he could, on the side of the head so Sanada rolled off. Marui scrambled to his feet, and ran out of the bedroom without a second glance back at Sanada. He locked himself shut in the nearest bathroom, _not_ _sobbing!_

Niou grunted, and almost woke up. If he had, he may have been able to prevent Marui from resolutely using all the toothbrushes he could find in the bathroom, or scrubbing his mouth clean with toothpaste of the same amount a smaller killer whale barely could've digested.

All the time Marui was _not sobbing_ but biting his lip to prevent any embarrassing sounds to be heard if anyone happened to walk past the door.

What the hell'd happened!? Marui thought, and slumped against the wall. His hands were shaking and he swallowed hard._ Okay okay… pull yourself together – remember you're a tensai! Think think… _

Last thing he could remember was being at the party with Niou… and then that cute girl had showed up and _almost_ kissed him. Thanks to Sanada it had become an _almost_.

"Marui!" someone banged on the door, making the pink haired boy jump to his feet. How long had he been hiding in the bathroom? ...was that Sanada outside the bathroom? _Now what…?!_

"Marui!" Sanada repeated, banging on the door. For some reason he had woken up with a terrible headache so he wasn't in a good mood. "Open up!"

The door suddenly flew open and none of Sanada's kendo reflexes could've saved him from the hit, which hit him straight in his face with a loud _thud_.

Marui simply stepped over his fukubuchou who was lying on the floor, moaning and clutching his face. Marui resolutely bit his lip.

"_I don't feel sorry for you at all!_" he hissed, shooting a glare back at Sanada before walking inside Niou's room and slamming the door shut. Sanada blinked twice.

_What the-?! What was going on here?_ Sanada thought, confused.

"H-hey! Marui why are you mad at me?" he shouted, as he crawled to his feet. _God!_ He was glad nobody was there to see him, _Sanada_, crawling on the floor like a child!

"You want a list?!" Marui answered from behind the closed door. He was packing his stuff and putting on some clothes, since Niou (the asshole) had decided to strip him off his jeans and t-shirt the previous night. Not Sanada though because nobody in the right mind would strip _Sanada_ off his clothes!

Marui tried not to think of Sanada on top of him _while he was only wearing his boxers_. Taking _his first kiss, dammit!_

On the other side of the door, Sanada was searching his mind for any possible action he'd done that could've angered Marui this much. And he couldn't find any. None at all… since the drug Niou'd slipped into the drink caused a temporary and short-term memory loss…

Well, he would probably remember within a week or so, Niou thought as he pulled his quilt further over the head and tried to ignore Marui rummaging through the closet.

Then another loud _thud_ followed by a pained grunt and an angry hiss from Marui told Niou that his friend had hit Sanada in the face with another door. And then the front door slammed shut, inquiring that Marui had left the house.

Then the trickster suddenly remembered…

"SHIT! Fukubuchou!_ We're getting late for the game!_"

"Huh?" Sanada muttered where he lay on the floor, looking a little bit cross-eyed. "What're you saying Niou?"

"_The game starts in 20 minutes!_" Niou shouted, who rolled out of bed and gathered his tennis gear and at the same time pulling his regulars' shirt over the head. He continued to ignore Sanada's angry shouts about setting alarm clocks (he'd forgotten to do that) and packing his bag in advance (he'd never done that so why start now?)

"Stop complaining! What's done is done!" Niou said, as he walked over Sanada and hurried into the kitchen to grab some fast breakfast. He found a piece of bread which he stuffed into his mouth. He also found a pair of jeans on the floor that seemed to fit so he gastily put them on.

"Renji's brought you tennis stuff already!" Niou said as rushed back to Sanada, to whom he handed another piece of bread. Then he grabbed his fukubuchou by the collar and pulled him to his feet. Ten seconds later the boys were running down the neighborhood towards the courts. Niou was carrying his racket and shorts in one hand, buttoning his jeans with the other.

As they ran further, they spotted Marui ahead of them. They didn't even bother to stop, just grabbed the tensai by the arms and carried him with them, much to the other boy's surprise.

When Marui started to protest loudly, they just shouted: "_Shut up! We're late!!_" until he went silent. Yukimura would absolutely _kill_ them if he found out the team forfeited a game because they overslept! Practice game or not, their pride would take a big hit if that came out!

---

--

"You look terrible all of you. But at least you're here" Yanagi commented when they arrived, panting heavily. "Genichirou, I have brought your tennis gear and Marui's too."

"I knew I could count on you Yanagi" Sanada said, still panting a little. His head still hurt though and he wished he'd had time to buy an aspirin or two…dozens. A loud 'pop' from the courts made him turn his head, and found Marui staring at him. Or rather, glaring.

Sanada still didn't know why Marui was so mad at him. _Maybe it will wear off if I leave him alone for long time enough_ he thought

And when the boy started the game with a service ace that almost hit one of their opponents, Sanada gulped. _Yes, that's probably the best solution..._


	3. My place or my place?

**A FEW WEEKS AGO**

**--..--**

**--..--**

Great… this was just great. He couldn't find his keys _again_, though he usually put them in his school bag. His parents weren't home and his little brothers were probably at some friend's house – not even their grandmother was home!

Marui sighed, and looked up at the sky – dark clouds were gathering and it looked like it'd rain any minute now. He'd probably left the keys in the club room like last time and the time before that. Maybe he could make it before the rain, if he ran back to school and home again.

--00—00--

_The club room was locked!_

"Dammit!" Marui grumbled, as he fumbled with his cell phone. "Pick up!"

Jackal still hadn't answered his calls for the last ten minutes nor had Akaya. Niou had said something about studying (_yeah right!_) and Yanagi was just too _creepy_ to hang out with after school…

Maybe he should go to buchou's room at the hospital? … or maybe he should run there. Since he could already feel the first raindrops hit him.

"Shit!" he exclaimed when it suddenly started pouring down. What to do, what to do?! The only thing he _could_ do was to run towards downtown and hope to get inside somewhere warm and dry.

--00—00--

Marui sighed where he sat crouched under the awning outside a small family mart. All plans about visiting Yukimura would have to wait since the downpour didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon.

He sneezed. _Things can't get any worse now_ he thought.

"Marui? Shouldn't you be home by now?" a deep voice said from above. Marui looked up. And he met a pair of brown eyes, hid under a black cap.

_Just what I didn't need…_ The truth was, Marui had tried hard not to be left alone with Sanada since the incident at Niou's place those months ago. It was just too embarrassing to talk about it, so none of them had talked directly to each other since that time – except for Sanada's yelling and Marui's teasing of course.

All in all, they both pretended it had never happened.

"Uh… hi fukubuchou. What're you doing here?"

Sanada lifted with the bag of groceries he'd bought, an inch higher. "For my mother" he said. "I was on my way home again."

"Oh. I'm… gonna go visit Yukimura-buchou as soon as the rain stops…"

"Did you lock yourself out again?"

"Yeah…" Marui hung with his head like a kid getting scolded. _Busted…_

"When are your parents returning home?"

"I dunno…"

"You'll catch a cold if you sit out here" Sanada said. "Come with me." And now Marui noticed the black umbrella he carried. Big enough for two persons, so Marui only hesitated for a short moment before standing up.

Sanada smelled nice, Marui noticed. They walked close but without touching, in silence on the narrowing streets until they reached the gates of Sanada residence.

Marui already knew that Sanada lived with his parents, older brother and grandfather. And that he practiced kendo. But he hadn't thought the family would _own_ their own dojo or that the house would be so big! It was the size of a smaller manor.

"I'm home" Sanada said when they entered the house, and they took off their shoes in the hall. Nobody answered, so Marui followed Sanada into the kitchen, where the capped boy put the grocery bag on the table.

Marui sneezed.

"Sorry" he sniffed.

Sanada looked at him from top to toe. "You're soaked to the skin" he said accusingly. "No wonder you're sneezing, you'll catch a cold like this."

"Sorry" Marui repeated. But Sanada had already gone into another room. After a oment he returned, carrying a bundle of white clothing.

"Here" Sanada said, shoving the bundle into a surprised Marui's arms. "There's a bathroom to the right" he continued, pointing towards the living room and a small door to its right.

Marui, feeling a little unsecure, felt a light push in his back as sign of permission and was then shown, or rather shoved, into the bathroom.

It wasn't until then that he suddenly realized what the white bundle was.

"A… _kimono?_" he said. Sanada had given him a fucking kimono? "What the hell is he thinking?" Marui muttered as he undressed himself. The rough cloth felt odd against his skin, but it fit pretty nicely. _Must've been fukubuchou's old_ he thought as he examined it.

--00—00--

As he walked out from the bathroom, he accidentally walked into someone. The same person roughly grabbed Marui round the waist, making the boy gasp in surprise.

"Wow! I didn't know my little brother had a girlfriend!" the other stranger said, grinning broadly at Marui. His breath smelled foul of alcohol.

"What the-?! I'm not a girl! So let go!" Marui exclaimed, struggling.

"You're pretty cute" the boy continued. "So how come you hang around Genichirou?"

"I'm a _boy!_" Marui protested loudly, trying to get away from the other boy's too intrusive hands. "_Get off me!_"

"_Aniki!_" Sanada exclaimed, as he came out from the kitchen. "What're you doing to my teammate?!" He was clenching his fist.

"Ehh?!" the brother said, blinking. His hand had by now found its way inside Marui's kimono, making the boy cringe and Sanada's nostrils to flare. "Y'mean she's a _boy?!_"

"I already told you!" The sound of Marui's held-back sob made Sanada clench his fist as he watched his brother let go of the smaller boy.

Marui's whole body was shaking when the boy withdrew his hands. But in its stead a strong arm draped itself around Marui's shoulders as Sanada protectively shoved his teammate behind him.

"If you try something like that again, I'll make sure you'll be eating your meals through a drinking straw this month" Sanada growled in a low voice. "_Aniki._"

"Relax, I didn't know he was a boy" his brother slurred. "What a waste… cute though." With that, he more staggered than walked past them, and disappeared out of the front door.

Sanada waited for a moment until he said: "You alright Marui?"

"Y-yeah… I guess…"

Then, Sanada turned around to face him and he was clenching his teeth. Those familiar brown eyes were harder than stone. But his expression softened as he looked at Marui's face.

"I'm… I apologize for my brother" Sanada said, placing a huge hand on top of Marui's head.

And for a moment, Marui was able to see another side of him than the stern fukubuchou who made the team run laps or the chairman of the school's public moral's committee.

Then, silence. Embarrassing... What was there to say more? Well, Sanada wasn't exactly known to be a talkative person but at least he _tried_.

"…would you like to visit our dojo?" he stuttered.

And Marui was struck speechless, both at the fact that fukubuchou was _stuttering_ and... Wait, was Sanada trying to hit on him with that kind of odd line?!

--00—00--

**Sanada's really not the sociable type eh? Hehe… next chapter up soon. If you're nice and review a lot I'll be concentrating some more on Poor little kouhai after this! **


	4. Kiss to the sound of rain

SANADA FAMILY'S DOJO

--00—00--

Marui's legs were still a little shaky when he sat on the hard floor in Sanada's dojo, listening to the sound of the rain.

"I apologize in behalf of my brother" Sanada said, again, as he unsheathed his katana.

"He thought I was a girl!" Marui exclaimed. "…Fukubuchou, what're you doing?"

"Get up. This is the best way to relief stress" Sanada said, looking stern again. _Had fukubuchou's kindness just been an act?_ Marui thought, glaring at Sanada.

"Good for you. I'm not stressed" Marui informed him, but he still stood up and walked over to Sanada who stood in the middle of the dojo.

"You're still shaking" Sanada said as he held the sword away from Marui. "I'm not letting you touch it until you've stopped that."

"Well touch _this_" Marui muttered, giving Sanada the finger. Silence filled the dojo.

"…That was totally uncalled for you know."

"Yeah I know… sorry…" Marui said, apologizing and hanging with his head. "But at least I stopped shaking" he added a little hopefully. The slightest hint of a smile was seen in the corners of Sanada's lips.

So he handed the katana over without another word. But before Marui had time to do anything, he felt the other boy place himself behind him.

"Hold the sword by the handle like this" Sanada grunted, professionally correcting Marui's grip. He was standing very close now, and Marui could even feel the warm breath at the back of his neck as Sanada spoke.

Then he placed his hands over Marui's. "Move your arms like this when swinging the sword" he said, and together they exercised the movement in silence two, three swings.

Suddenly, Sanada let go as if Marui's hands had burned him. And he took a step back.

"Sorry" he muttered, refusing to look at the other boy when Marui turned towards him. Then, Marui also remembered.

"Oh. Yeah, that's right" he said, nodding. "But aren't I the one who's supposed to worry…? I mean" he added, "_You're_ the one who jumped _me_."

"I…" Sanada started, looking confused. "Well, I apologize for that, of course. But I think you also should apologize, for hitting my head with the doors twice."

"Hey! I had reason to do it y'know!" Marui fretted, stomping his foot. "I was _upset!_ Some _perv_ had just stolen my first kiss while I was _unconscious!_"

"What, do you think _I'm_ proud of what I did?!" Sanada bellowed. "You think I'm proud _I_ lost _my_ first kiss to someone _who __didn't want to kiss me?!_ _That was my first kiss as well!_"

Marui looked as if Sanada had slapped him in the face. "You met my brother!" Sanada continued. "Do you honestly think I'd do something, like what he did to you?!" Marui slowly shook his head, wide-eyed. _It couldn't have been the first time Sanada… fukubuchou had to intervene…_

"It's true that I kissed you… but I suffered from amnesia the following week" the taller boy admitted. "I was also stupid enough to drink something at the party and that's why I… I fainted."

"So… you didn't kiss me because you wanted to…" Marui said in a small voice when Sanada had fallen silent.

"It was as if my body acted on its own" Sanada concluded, frowning a little. "I would never have done it if I had been in my right mind."

"… so you thought it was _bad?!_" Marui exclaimed. "That's so ungrateful! My god, my genius moves were apparently totally wasted on you!"

"Isn't it supposed to be 'genial moves'?" Sanada interrupted the other boy, who stared at him with open mouth. "No, sorry – do continue with your ranting."

"I-I- I don't think it was good either!" Marui shouted at Sanada, who looked hurt. Or, he frowned but the feeling was still the same.

"I'm sorry it wasn't satisfying" he said, blushing. "But I _never_ said I thought it was bad! In truth, it was the best kiss I've ever had!"

"That was our _first_ kiss, idiot" Marui said, but he was now smiling. "You stupid fukubuchou…!"

He gasped as Sanada closed the gap between them, and the sword glided out of his hand and fell to the floor with a clatter. At first, Marui was afraid Sanada would try to kiss him _again_ but instead he was caught in a strong embrace. They stood like that for a while, Marui soon moving his arms to encircle Sanada's broad back.

_He's still smelling pretty nice_…the self-proclaimed tensai thought. Then his eye caught a series of small moves made by Sanada.

"… fukubuchou are you _laughing?!_" Marui exclaimed when he realized that Sanada's shoulders were shaking of silent laughter Then, Marui started to laugh, too.

"I didn't know it was your first kiss too" he said after a while, when they had returned to just standing and hugging. "You must think I'm really selfish…" he sighed.

"Well not really… but I'll forgive you if you promise not to tell anyone. Especially not Yukimura." Dead serious.

"As if I would tell" Marui snorted. "And it was just kissing, after all…"

Maybe it was the kindness in the other boy's voice. Or maybe the scent of _fukubuchou_ was getting to his head, because Marui was starting to feel dizzy. But he didn't protest when Sanada slowly, almost hesitantly tilted his head upwards, or when his lips were covered by Sanada's mouth once again.

They kissed to the sound of the rain falling outside the dojo.

It wasn't that bad actually, better than he remembered at least. Yeah, he could definitely get used to this… them both being boys wasn't something he'd reflected over – but it wasn't as if they were serious about this, either.

_This is just kissing after all… not as if we're serious or anything._


	5. Team vacation!

**Hi! Sorry for the long wait but now it's done. The first chapter of the "team vacation"!** **Thanx for reading and please comment on anything and everything!**

-00-

The boy beneath him quivered each time hot, breathy kisses were placed upon his body.

"Ah… please! Fukubuchou!" Marui gasped, clutching the already wrinkled sheets. "Don't! It-it feels so good! I'm-"

-00-

Sanada's eyes flew open. He was in bed, with the sheets clinging to his body. It had been a dream, nothing else. He sighed, and glanced at the clock which was lit up by a small streak of moonlight shining in through the window.

He decided to go take a shower. A long, cold shower to relieve himself of the tension he still felt between his legs. Yeah, that was probably going to make him feel much better.

The main building of Rikkaidai Middle school was temporarily being rebuilt, courtesy of an explosion that had happened in the chemistry lab last week. The police had been unable to track down the culprit. So Yukimura had decided they needed a well-deserved break and travel to Chiba.

On a three-day long and incredibly hard training-camp which he called 'pre-nationals team bonding' or something of the sort and participation was compulsory.

-00-

Marui opened an eye. Only silence met his ears. The home of the Marui family, including the sleeping grandmother, was blissfully quiet. Slowly, as slow as possible to keep anyone from waking up, Marui got dressed. After grabbing his tennis bag, the self-proclaimed genius opened the door to his bedroom and slowly made his way to the kitchen.

The huge refrigerator was packed to the brim with leftover food, snacks and – _that._ _That_ was standing on a shelf in all its frosted glory, containing enough sugar and whipped cream to feed a third-world child for a month.

"Come to daddy" Marui whispered, and raised his arms to grab the grand cake from the top shelf.

"_BUNTA! _Don't you DARE!!" a woman's voice shrieked. Marui gulped.

"…Uh-oh". And then hell broke loose.

-00-

Sanada's phone rang just as he exited the shower. "_Fukubuchou?!_" Marui's voice whispered. "I uh, I need help. My mum locked me up in the closet for trying to steal the cake and I can't get out".

"…say that again? Your mum did what?" The sound of teeth grinding together was heard, before Marui answered. Apparently, he thought the situation was very embarrassing.

"My mother. Locked me up. In the closet, like _fucking Harry Potter or something_."

Sanada thought it over for a second. "Then break out". After all, muscles could be used for things other than tennis. Tarundoru.

"I'm a genius, not a magician. Besides, if I make noises she'll come running like a madman to check it up. So help me".

Sanada frowned. He knew where this conversation was headed. "Call Jackal instead. Bye."

"W-wait! Just come over here and distract her so I can get out! You can do _that_ for me, can't you?" The puppy-eyes were almost visible over the phone. Or at least, Sanada could imagine Marui's tear-filled eyes looking at him in a begging sort of way.

"…I'll be right over" he grunted, before ending the call. Damn those imaginary puppy-eyes! But if he was to go down, it wouldn't be alone. Sanada reluctantly chose a number from the phone's address-book.

"_The number you have dialed is not in service. Please-_"

"...Thirty laps around your house, Niou".

"_Morning, fukubuchou! What's up?_" Niou's voice cracked over the speaker.

-00-

Yukimura sighed. The night before, the three demons had decided _not_ to pick up the team's _babies_ this morning: Niou, Kirihara and Marui. One of them, if not all of them, was in one way or sure to cause the team trouble.

By now Yanagi would hopefully be at Akaya's house and dragging the second-year out of the house, carrying the bag that Jackal packed the boy yesterday. Kirihara really wasn't a bad boy he simply needed some very _extremely_ strict guidance from his senpais to prevent him from getting into trouble.

Marui would probably be on time for the train, Yukimura assured himself that; after all, no cake shops or cafes were open this early in the morning.

Niou was another problem. When Kirihara acted out as a sole misguided teenager or Marui was simply a sugar addict, Niou was actually _planning_ his troublemaking. And so, Yukimura had taken the mature decision as the captain, to drag the trouble making trickster out of his bed with force, if need be.

Yukimura rang the doorbell, at the same time his cell phone rang. A message: _I and Niou are rescuing Bunta from his mother. Don't wait for us!_

Oh dear. So at least they're on first-name basis? Yukimura smiled inwardly, and almost screamed out loud when Niou suddenly opened the door with untied rattail and a toothbrush in his mouth.

"You- what are you doing here?" Yukimura gasped, clutching his chest. "What about Marui's rescue??"

"I schent Waagyuu instea'" Niou slurred, without taking out the toothbrush. "We 'ad a schleepover weshterda'. What wou doin' 'ere buchou?"

"Oh. Alright then, as everything seems to be in order I should probably be going-"

Niou spit into the yard before saying: "Oh. Don't you wanna go to the station together?" and then went back into the house before getting an answer.

Yukimura hesitated slightly before following him into the house; what use was it to stand outside to wait, anyway? As it turned out, it was a bad decision.

"Oh my GOD! Masaharu, have you been using my razor again?!" a voice shrieked, and then seemingly out of nowhere appeared a young female who was wavering a pink, very _hairy,_ razor blade. Yukimura froze in his step.

"Hi there, flat-chest" Niou's sister said, grinning very un-ladylike. She was dressed in a short bathrobe that actually revealed more of her body than it covered.

"…And your skirt is as short as ever, I see" Yukimura bit back at her. They stared at each other, and one could almost see sparks flying in the air between them. Rikkai's captain grit his teeth; how in the world Niou's parents could leave their children at home alone was an enigma.

"Now, ladies-" Niou said, trying to intervene but a quick glance from his sister and captain made him dart towards the safe haven of the floor underneath the kitchen table.

-00-

Sanada stared at the doorbell. Mission 'saving Marui' was harder than it seemed and on top of it, when he had arrived at Niou's house the one greeting him had been Yagyuu and not the trickster.

"So how do we do this?" Sanada grunted.

"You could always pretend to be a teacher from school" Yagyuu suggested, pushing his glasses further up.

"Are you joking?"

"I heard that Seigaku's buchou Tezuka-kun is often mistaken for a teacher but if you feel you won't be able to pass for-"

"**I'll do it**."

-00-

Meanwhile, Jackal stood alone at the station, wondering when the rest of the team would show up. A dry shrub, carried by the howling wind, rolled past him.

**To be continued in the next chapter!**


	6. Those boys and their games

_Hi! Sorry it took me so long to finish the chapters ^^ But hopefully they'll be worth the wait._

_Anyway, here comes the beach – and the start of a volleyball tournament! And, please leave a comment of which pairings you'd like to see in the volleyball tournament._

-00-

Marui's mother sighed as she turned the key to the refrigerator's third lock. Damn that son of hers! Then, the sound of the doorbell pierced the silence.

"Good morning" said the bespectacled man who stood on her doorstep. "My name is Yagyuu-sensei and my colleague's name is Sanada-sensei. We are here on a teacher's visit to speak about your son, as told by mail some weeks ago."

"I… haven't received any information about that-" Marui's mum began to protest.

"Oh, the mail must've been misplaced then" Yagyuu-sensei continued, and pushed his glasses higher up with one hand. "But may we come in anyway? This is about your son's future after all."

Marui's mum thought about it. Neither of them seemed to be the burglar or the crazy murderer-type. And which burglar would stake out a prospective house this early in the morning?

"Well, come on in. I'll make us some coffee" she answered, and showed them in.

"Thank you for having us" Yagyuu said, without glancing at Sanada. They were inside, and there was no turning back now. The two of them followed Marui's mum into the kitchen where they sat down and began to talk about this and that.

"So, Mrs. Marui, what are your son's plans for the future?" Yagyuu politely asked while pulling out a pencil and a notebook. And the conversation went on similarly for a couple of minutes. Sanada tried not to check the watch hanging on the wall, or wriggle uncomfortably on the chair; this was too easy, the woman was almost too gullible.

"Uhm, excuse me but the bathroom…?" he suddenly said.

"At the end of the corridor, beside the closet door" said Marui's mum. "And by the way, if you hear any odd sounds from the closet, just ignore it will you?" Sanada nodded quietly and then walked out of the kitchen. He went straight towards the closet, which had a couple of pots and brooms piled up in front of it.

"…Marui? Are you in there?" he whispered, careful not to touch any of the pots.

"_This is sooo not the way to treat a genius!_"

So much for the teary puppy-eyes, Sanada shrugged. While he started to move the brooms out of the way he noticed that some of the pots were filled with what seemed to be leftovers.

"Oh yeah, be careful not to burn yourself on the pots filled with food; they're still-"

"_HOT!!_" Sanada gasped between his teeth, but luckily not loud enough for Marui's mum to hear in the kitchen. _Someone_ should pay for this…!

-00-

Kirihara yawned, stretching his legs as much as possible in the cramped train seat. He really didn't understand why Yanagi-senpai had dragged him to the station so early – half the team had still been missing when he'd arrived at the platform! Suddenly something _cold_ found its way down his neck.

"_KYAAAH!_"

"You scream like a little girl" Niou snickered from the seat behind, handing a surprised Kirihara the drink he'd just put at the younger boy's neck. His kouhai blushed furiously.

"Senpai, you-"

"No need to thank me" Niou grinned. On the other hand, a very upset-looking Yukimura was sitting at the other side of the aisle.

"There's a 90 % chance that Seiichi encountered Niou's sister on the way here" Yanagi declared out of the blue, frowning slightly.

"What about the other 10 %" Jackal asked, who was sitting beside Kirihara.

"That would be due to hormones" Yanagi shrugged. Yukimura gave him the Glare of Doom, since the image of Niou's sister was still fresh in his mind. On his side was Sanada, seemingly asleep.

The train rattled a lot while tanking them to their destination. Kirihara popped a candy into his mouth while watching his captain and vice-captain; since neither of them had wanted to talk about what had happened it must've been something traumatic. Buchou had probably gone to Niou-senpai's house where he had met _her_, Kirihara thought and made a face at the thought of Niou's sister. Which was why he couldn't disturb their buchou or Hell would Break Loose. And their fukubuchou and Yagyuu-senpai had showed up at the platform just in time for the train, dragging a seemingly out-cold Marui-senpai in the arms – and Marui-senpai was just staring into the wall and refused to speak with anyone. Kirihara's train ride had suddenly gotten a lot more boring. A pair of hands descended from above, and Kirihara whiskered his candy out of reach.

"I'm not gonna share!" he scowled. "Go to sleep, you freaky senpai!"

"He-ey, remember that coke I just gave you without any ulterior motive, brat?" Niou tried, still reaching greedily for the candy.

"I don't care, cross the seat-line and I'll kick your ass!"

"So cold" Niou sighed, and turned to Jackal. "Hey baldie, switch places with me will you."

"That wasn't even a question" Jackal muttered, eyeing his doubles-partner. Marui was sitting beside Yanagi, clutching his bag as if someone would steal it away any minute; Jackal hadn't met Marui's mum (since Marui and Akaya always came over to **his** house to mooch off and not the other way around) but he had once heard the woman's voice shrieking at his doubles-partner over the phone. And frankly, he was glad he hadn't had the pleasure.

-00-

It was the sea. The team arrived to Yukimura's aunt, who happened to own a small motel by the sea. Marui, Kirihara and Niou threw off their bags in a dark corner and changed into swimming clothes as soon as they'd said their "_Ojamashimasu_"-greeting. Then they ran off towards the beach with lots of different toys and tools in their hands. Knowing Kirihara all too well, poor Jackal quickly threw off his own bag and started running after their kouhai without even changing. The other regulars sighed, and proceeded to bring all of their bags into their rooms and changed clothes in a more dignified pace.

"Wah! It's the ocean!" Kirihara exclaimed while running and his green eyes were sparkling much like the blue water before them. Jackal managed to grab him before Kirihara ran out into the water to play, and dragged their kouhai towards the safety of land.

"Wah! This is way too hot! I need an ice cream" Marui puffed, and lay down onto a blanked under the shade of the large parasol he'd brought with him. Soon after, Kirihara joined him, apparently tired from running around.

"Senpai, it's too hot!" he moaned, before he perked up – he had spotted an eye-catching figure bent over the soda-machine a couple of meters away. Kirihara licked his lips, eyeing the figure; a couple of light hair-strands falling over the shoulder, a slim waist and wearing a pair of pink surfer's shorts which fell over a tight ass. Kirihara felt something, and it was different from the time when he'd accidentally flipped on the adult channel. He didn't feel scared at all, more than that he felt a need and he could feel his eyes starting to get red. He felt **WANT**.

"…what the hell are you doing, staring at Niou?" Marui said, followed by a small _pop_.

At first, Kirihara was just confused by his senpai's words. But then, the 'girl' straightened up and turned around. And Niou-senpai was waving at him, with pigtail untied and grinning with a coke in each hand. **Oh. My.** **God.**

"… I still think he was kinda hot" Kirihara decided for himself. Then three different blunt instruments whacked him in the head at the same time.

"You're out of your freaking mind, brat!" Marui exclaimed, still holding the parasol-turned-blunt instrument in his hands.

"That's not funny, Akaya!" Jackal wailed, waving his pink plastic shovel. He seemed very shocked to find that their 'baby' had grown up all of a sudden.

"I hope that was sunstroke talking" Yagyuu said calmly, and both Jackal and Marui suddenly felt shivers creeping down their spines when they heard his voice.

"…Yagyuu-senpai did you just hit me with a watermelon?"

The three regulars stopped their thought for a second, long enough for their brains to register the red tints in Kirihara's eyes. Then hell broke loose on the beach.

-00-

Yukimura, who was applying sun-screen on his tennis arm, chuckled when he saw the regulars 'playing' with Akaya. Playing right now involved defending their lives using Jackal's water pistols and buckets of sea water. And of course, lots of running around being chased by the team's baby.

"They seem to be having fun" he noted. Sanada grunted something. He was still trying to forget last night's dream (_last chapter_), and refused to look towards Marui. The bubblegum-blowing boy had once or twice shot Sanada a hurt look while running, but it couldn't be helped; unless the stoic fukubuchou wanted to run into the sea in order to cool down or forever face humiliation, it was necessary that he did _not_ look at Marui or else…!

"It could just be the hormones" Yukimura suddenly said, and Sanada felt a pang of guilt. "We're expected to be teenage boys with raging hormones and apparently that can do odd things to the body. Or at least so I've heard", the young captain added.

"W-whatever are you talking about Yukimura?!" Sanada stuttered, fighting against the blood collecting on his cheeks.

"Them. I'm talking about those two" Yukimura said and pointed at Kirihara and Yagyuu, who had spontaneously teamed up with Marui and Jackal, and were now having a volley-ball show-down, with Niou sitting in the umpire's chair beside them and seemingly laughing his ass off. Yukimura had to admit, it did look a bit funny since the ball constantly went between Kirihara and Yagyuu, who seemed to be trying to smash each other's face; Kirihara laughing hysterically as he did while Yagyuu was gentlemanly ice-cool.

"I bid you adieu, Kirihara-kun!" Yagyuu shouted, before laser-beaming the ball a hair's width past his kouhai's hair. But the ball didn't land in the sand.

Instead, it bounced on a head covered by blue cap turned backwards which just happened to be in the way.

"What the-?! That's so lame, not being able to control your own shot. _Geki daze!_" the owner of the cap shouted at the Rikkai regulars, while furiously rubbing his head.

"Ah, Shishido-san! Don't be like that" exclaimed the tall, silver-haired boy who was with him. "But really, you should apologize to Shishido-san for that" he insisted, turning to Yagyuu.

"You're the lame one here, shorty" Kirihara screamed, while walking towards the pair. "We're Rikkaidai, we don't apologize to anyone!" but he suddenly tripped and fell over something. The 'thing' was happened to be a strawberry-blond boy who was sleeping in the sand, clad not in swimming pants – but in his boxers!

And Marui unintentionally let slip out a moan when he saw the strange boy. Then, he looked around for places to hide.

The strawberry-blond boy opened his eyes, seeing Kirihara who lay flat on his stomach over the other boy's stomach. "Sowrry" the boy yawned, while sitting up. He blinked once, then twice, before he let out a: "OH! It's Marui-kun!! UWAAH!!"

"_Somebody stop him!!_ H-E-L-P M-E-E-E!!!" Marui screamed, as the other boy got onto his feet and started advancing towards Marui. Niou put a stop to the attacker by throwing a volley ball from where he sat in the umpire's chair. It landed gracefully in the poor boy's face with a thump.

"What the-?! Hey did you see that, Yuushi? See that?! He attacked Jirou, let's go kick their asses!" a red-head seemingly popped out of thin air shrieked, pointing straight at Niou.

"Just try it" Niou grinned, wiggling his index finger. "Try it and I'll snap that little finger in half, you twit!" and then he proceeded to produce another volley ball, which he threw at the Hyotei boy.

"You're so on!" Mukahi shouted, catching the ball in mid-air and throwing it back at Niou.

"There's a _99 %_ chance that Genichirou won't like this" Yanagi said, since he'd spotted something the others still hadn't. And true to his words...

"_A-a-hn_, what's this?" a voice said. "A volleyball tournament? Well if you insist, so be it! Ore-sama will show all of you my great volleyball skills! Kabaji!"

"Usu"

"Bring me my sun-screen. We'll be playing outdoors today."

----

_OK, so now I'd like some assistance from you readers! Please leave a comment on which pairings you'd like to see in the volleyball tournament! I'm thinking one from each team, just to split up the doubles-teams but any suggestion is fine and I'll happily try to comply^^_


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